Gone with the Morning
by Veritas Found
Summary: They're not questioning the impossible anymore, but they are finding that maybe it's not quite enough.
1. Musings of the 18th Floor Balcony

**Title:** Gone with the Morning

**Author:** Wish Wielder

**Fandom:** Doctor Who

**Pairing / Character Focus:** (Tenth) Doctor, Rose Tyler, Jack Harkness, Jackie Tyler, Mickey Smith, a few Torchwood cameos; Doctor x Rose

**Challenge:** Songs in Time Spring Hopes Eternal Ficathon

**Theme / Prompt:** (Any S1 thru S4+) Somehow the Doctor (or Rose) figures out how to spend a whole day with the other. But it's just this one day, every year, then they have to go back to their "everyday" lives. Flashback from either POV and could be tied to a reunion. ("And I'll try to sleep / To keep you in my dreams / 'Til I can bring you home with me / I'll try to sleep / And when I do I'll keep you in my dreams / I knew it from the start / So my arms are open wide / Your head is on my stomach / And we're trying so hard not to fall asleep / So here we are /

On this 18th floor balcony, yeah" ("18th Floor Balcony" by Blue October))

**Word Count:** 11,176

**Rating:** M / PG-16

**Summary:** They're not questioning the impossible anymore, but they are finding that maybe it's not quite enough.

**Notes:** Post-S3/4, alternating from That Spoiler (a tad AU). Two-parter; slight spoilers for the end of Partners in Crime in the second part. Major thanks to Aku for putting up with me through this – love ya' to bits, darlin'!

**Disclaimer:** "Doctor Who" and all respective properties are © the BBC. Megan D. (Wish Wielder) does not, has never, nor will ever own "Doctor Who".

**Gone with the Morning**

**Part I: Musings of the 18****th**** Floor Balcony**

Outside, he could hear the world moving on. Time surged forward, swirling around them differently but still just as lethal as…he closed his eyes against the klaxon and street shouts, blocking them out as he focused on the woman in his arms. He smiled for the briefest moment, calmed by the simple fact that he was there with her, but another shout from the night outside the windows and his reassurance vanished like morning smoke. He tightened his grip on her, holding her closer as he willed time to slow. It didn't work as well over here, in a universe he couldn't call home (even if it was where his home was). His eyes opened as she shifted, a worried groan slipping from her as her hand clutched at his bare chest.

"Doctor?" she whispered cautiously, and he shushed her. Her warm brown eyes slipped open just barely, and his breath hitched at the look in them.

"I'm still here," he said, voice barely audible above the city life filtering from the open balcony doors. "Go back to sleep, Rose."

"Can't," she mumbled, burrowing closer to him. "If I do…you'll go away again. Y'always do."

"No, I won't," he said. He kissed her forehead, and she smiled despite the gnawing in her gut. "We still have time, Rose. We still have time."

He felt her slip back into sleep, and his eyes closed again as he pulled her even closer. His face burrowed in the crook of her neck, and he breathed her in. They still had time, but not much. Even as a Time Lord he couldn't change that fact, or that by the time she woke again he would be gone. Not by choice, but all the same he'd vanish from her life for another year, until the walls were thin enough that he'd be pulled through again.

The first time, he hadn't really realized what was happening. She hadn't, either (well, at first).

_He frowned at the slight jerking feeling, like a hook was attached to his navel and pulling him…somewhere. He'd lived long enough to know better than to brush it off as nothing, but he'd also lived long enough to not really care __anymore. Long enough that it was hard to really care about anything anymore, even the doctor and redhead that had just bid him adieu the week before (he didn't miss the noise; he really didn't…not too much, at least)._

_It was the one constant in the universe, he'd learned: with people, there was always a goodbye. Even if neither of you asked for, or even wanted, one._

_He shook his head, closing his eyes just a moment – focused enough on clearing his head that he didn't notice the tugging disappear, or the feeling of a shift in the universe. He reached back up to grab some wires from underneath the console only to have his hands bang against…wood? His eyes snapped open, and he gawked at the underside of…well, it looked like a coffee table._

"_Knew it was one of those days. You can't have a Slitheen explode all over you and _not_ have one of those days."_

_His hearts stopped. For the longest moment, his hearts actually stopped. Shaking hands pushed him from under the table, and then he was sitting in what he guessed was her living room. There she was, the one he was never supposed to be able to see again, standing in the entryway to a…flat? What was she doing in a flat? Nice flat, though – her flat. Back on the…_

_And as he recognized the interior of the flat back on the Powell Estates, albeit different décor, he realized that yes, it was one of those days. Nothing more than a dream, no matter how realistic it seemed, brought on from exhaustion of a bad day and too much repair work. He was probably still under the console, probably knocked out by a random electrocution or after bumping his head or…_

_She looked good, though – for a figment of his imagination. A navy leather jacket over a dark pink shirt, black jeans, and pink Converse hi-tops, just like his. Her hair was a little longer, not much past her shoulders but still not as short as it had been or as long as it once was. Not as much makeup, and her roots weren't as visible. He wondered at that, why his mind would change such little details he had always loved before._

"_How'd you get here this time, then? Or is it that the universe needs saving and you don't have anyone else to ask, universal collapse be damned?" she asked, and he frowned as he pushed himself up off the floor. He could almost hear the unasked question in his dream hers mind: 'Or did you just miss me enough to not care?' Why had he been under her coffee table, anyway? Seemed like a silly place to show up. "And why are you under my table?"_

"_I…" he started, but then stopped. It was a dream, anyway – why should he justify his actions to someone who wasn't real? Even if she looked like someone who was…_

"…_it's one of those then, is it?" she asked as he pulled away from her, and he wondered when he had crossed the room to kiss her in the first place._

"_One of those?" he asked, and she smiled as she looked up at him, bumping her hip into his. Ah. One of _those_. Maybe it was._

"_You look older than I remember – thought you weren't supposed to age?" she asked, and he laughed slightly._

"_Do you always have to point out how I'm not taking care of myself?" he asked, brushing a piece of hair out of her face. "I miss your roots."_

"_Do you always have to point out how much you dislike what I've done to my hair?" she asked, and he kissed her again when he saw that bit of tongue poke out the side of her mouth. In dreams like this, he didn't have to tell himself he didn't miss that tongue, or that mouth; that he didn't hate the fact he never got to do this properly in the first place._

"_First time you've dyed it properly in one of these," he said, grinning slightly at her. Her eyes widened, and she reached up to put a hand on his face._

"_But…you've never said that before," she said. "I'm the one dreaming."_

"_Not the first time you've said that," he said, kissing her again. He knew he shouldn't; she was just a dream, and he shouldn't indulge in what couldn't be. But even knowing that, it didn't keep her from feeling warm and real beneath his hands, or stop the stirring deep inside at the little ways she moaned when he brought his lips to a certain spot on her neck. It also didn't keep him from wondering how she would react if it was really her he was kissing. "I think I like thinking you dream about me, too. Keeps me from feeling as mad."_

"_You've always been mad," she said, and he laughed at that. Maybe he had been, and maybe he still was. She always made him feel a little mad. "Oh, God…you need to stop."_

"_Don't want to," he said, bringing up a hand to pull down the zip on her jacket. She put her hands on his chest, and he pulled away as she pushed him slightly._

"_How are you here?" she asked, and he frowned as he ran a thumb under her eye._

"_I'm not," he said. "Not really. I can't be, can I? Universes collapsing, impossible, and all that."_

"_You always did say that word too much," she said. He laughed and went back to kissing her neck, and she groaned as she arched against him. "Right, then – talking can wait. God, I missed you. It's been hell over here."_

"_You're supposed to say you're living the life fantastic," he mumbled as he slipped her jacket off her shoulders. She laughed then, and he wasn't sure how much he liked that._

"_Most days, but it's hard without you here. Boring," she said. "Defending the Earth's not the same without you. Better with two – you – and all that."_

_He shouldn't have been as thrilled by the little mewling sound she made as he was, but he loved the way she nudged him back around the table and onto the sofa. He fell back when his knees bumped into the furniture, and she climbed onto his lap to give him a thorough snogging. All the more proof it couldn't be real, his mind told him; she would never let him jump her like this, not after so much time had passed. Not even before, and she had loved him th-oh. Oh, oh._

"_You little minx," he hissed as she grinned at him. She did it again, and she leaned down to his ear as he bit back a groan._

"_You love me for it," she whispered, and he squeezed where his hands held her hips as he caught her lips again._

"_I'm sorry I ran out of time," he said, just as he said every other time he found himself in a dream with her. He thought that maybe if he told his dream Rose enough it would someday make up for the fact that he had never told his real Rose. "But I do. Rassilon, I love you so much."_

"_We should stop," she said when his fingers hooked under the hem of her shirt. He looked up at her, smiling slightly. He couldn't fully, not when he knew she wasn't…_

"_You don't want to," he said. She looked away, and he took her hand, folding their fingers together and kissing the back. She squeezed slightly, and a part of his mind told him he couldn't imagine how perfect it felt. "I don't want to. I'm sorry I never did this before. It would've been nice to…I was so stupid back then."_

"_I bet you still are, Mr. Genius," she said with a grin. He looked at her, laughing slightly._

"_Watch the cheek," he said._

"_Always," she replied, leaning back down to kiss his jaw while she worked on his many buttons. As he gave up reminding himself she wasn't really his Rose, he heard himself agree that yes, they would talk – later. He knew he'd wake up before he could give himself that false hope; he always did._

He hadn't admitted to himself it was real until he had woken up the next morning to Martha's screams and Jack's wolf-whistles.

"Woah, Doc – do you always sleep naked under the console when there's no one else on board?" Jack had asked, and he had received a very lovely bump when he had jumped up and crashed his head into the underside of the console. There had been Martha and Jack, standing in front of the open doors (where he could see Jack's lackeys gawking at him, or maybe just the TARDIS, from the interior of the Hub – which had been strange, as he had been coasting in the vortex). Martha had quickly excused herself, and Jack had closed the doors before asking him what he had done to his clothes.

Remembering his dream, he had leapt up to check one of the monitors. His hearts had nearly stopped at the readings.

"_Well?" Jack asked, and he gulped as he looked up from the screen, an impossible hope niggling into the heart he had long since decided resided across the Void._

"_I…I think, and I know how mad this sounds, but…at Rose's flat," he said. Jack quirked an eyebrow at him._

"_You went back to the Powell Estates and stripped?" he asked, and with a roll of his eyes he waved him off._

"_No, no, no! Not…well, yes, but not…Jack, I think…I think I crossed the Void in my sleep," he said._

"_And lost your clothes in the process?" Jack asked, and he decided flushing was something better done with clothes to cover it up – especially when the blush went straight to your toes. "Oh my God. Oh my God. Christ, Doc, you didn't!"_

"_I don't know! I…Rassilon, it was really her…and she…oh, bollocks!" he cried, slamming his head against the monitor._

"_Woah, Doc – stop that!" Jack said, running over and grabbing his shoulders. He looked over at him, a nauseous, glorious, stabbing feeling wrenching his gut. She had felt – looked – real because she _was_ real. And he had thought she was a dream, and she had been acting like she thought it wasn't, and…_

"_She's going to wake up, Jack," he said, his brows knotting together in a horrified look. "She's going to wake up, and I'm not going to be there, and…she's going to think I left her. Again."_

"_What happened?" Jack asked, frowning at him, and he looked back to the monitor._

"_I'm not sure," he said. He tapped the screen, pointing to something he knew Jack would never be able to read. "That right there marks Voidal disturbances."_

"_Voidal dis…?" Jack started, and he nodded. "You monitor the Void? Like how we monitor the Rift?"_

"_Yes," he said. "Ever since…I knew it was impossible, but…I like hope, Jack. Too much to fully give it up. I thought that maybe the walls would wear thin – thin enough that I could poke through and bring her back. That or the Daleks and Cybermen were coming through again, and even then I'd need to know to stop them. But…it's fluctuating, Jack. And right here, this gap of time here – twenty-four hours exactly – they were…they were thin enough."_

"_Thin enough for what?" Jack asked, and he rolled his eyes._

"_Do you have to be so thick?!" he snapped, and immediately he regretted it. He sighed and looked down, rubbing his forehead. The hand that was still on his shoulder gave a gentle squeeze, and he looked back to his old friend. "I'm sorry."_

"_I'm just trying to help," Jack said, and he smiled weakly._

"_I know. I was able to slip through, Jack," he said. He looked back to the monitor. "I don't know how. There was this tugging, but I just brushed it off like…something pulled me through, Jack. And it brought me right under Rose's table. And we…well, _obviously_."_

_Jack grinned, despite the weight of the situation. He raised a brow at him, and he – damn him – laughed._

"_Danced?" he asked, and he sighed before nodding. His grin turned wicked. "Hey, you've been wanting to for ages – don't look so bummed about it!"_

"_Well how am I supposed to look, Harkness?!" he snapped, rounding on him. His fists clenched at his sides, his body thrumming with a suppressed frustration he just couldn't give voice to. "I was there, with her, and I thought it was a sodding dream! And she didn't, and she's going to wake up thinking I just left because it _was_ real, and I was too stupid to believe it! And I don't even know how I got there, or how I could get back, because those bloody walls are sealed again and…and…"_

"_Doctor…" Jack sighed as he sank to the floor, gasping and looking off into empty space. Space where she should've been. Space where she had been, and now wasn't – again._

"_I've lost her, Jack," he said. "All over again, I've lost her."_

"_You could say that," Jack said, and he looked up at him, "or you could stop being pathetic, go throw some clothes on, and figure out how you got over there in the first place. You were there once – you can get there again. You've only lost her if you want to lose her, and you and I both know you don't. Now stop your pity-party and do something about it."_

It had taken a year. A whole year, but not by choice. It had taken him a week to figure out what he hadn't been able to in years, and when he finally had his answer he hadn't been able to do a damned thing about it. He had parked in the Hub (he had moved the TARDIS out of the way, of course – well, after Owen had had a few choice words with him over it), and Jack had helped him as best he could. What it came down to was…well, he still wasn't sure. Some trick of time and vortex energy and he was fairly sure Bad Wolf or the TARDIS or both led to the walls wearing thin enough to cross once every three hundred and sixty-five Earth days, and even then only for twenty-four Earth hours.

It wasn't what he had hoped, not by a long shot, but it would have to be enough. There was some saying about a gift horse's mouth that applied to their situation; he was fairly sure of it.

Even then, he hadn't been sure if he was right. He couldn't figure out why it was only starting then, and going from that he hadn't known if it would even repeat. So he went on as best he could, the only difference being that he had refused to let anyone else tag along. He knew it wasn't the best of ideas – something Jack had argued with him over more than he cared to remember – but he couldn't help it. If Rose was…if he was going to…

What it had come down to, for him, was this: either he was going to be popping out once a year to see Rose (which would be bad, if it resulted in abandoning a companion at a bad time), Rose would be coming back (in which case he didn't really want someone else on board), or…nothing would happen. He would know within the year, and he could make his decision from there.

The second time it had happened, she had been cooking.

_He stood in the console room, hands shoved into the pockets of his blue suit as he looked up at the vaulted ceiling expectantly. He was parked in the Hub – for safety measures, in case he was right (Rassilon, please let him be right) and would be popping over to Pete's World. Jack was leaning against the railing by the ramp, arms folded across his chest and watching him fidget with focused eyes. The good captain was worried he was wrong, just as he was, but he was hiding it. Sometimes the man really was too good to him, rough patches and all._

"_Come on," he whispered. "Come on, come on, come on come on come on COME ON!"_

"_Doc, calm down!" Jack called, and he looked at him as he pushed a frustrated breath past his lips. "You said that last time you didn't get pulled through until the window was a few hours from closing. It's only just opening now – be patient."_

_He nearly laughed at that; there was no such thing as patient with him anymore, not when it came to Rose Tyler. He'd spent too long after that blasted battle being patient. He couldn't waste any more time on that particular virtue now._

_An hour past without anything happening, not even the slightest niggle. Another hour marched by, and Gwen brought in some charts for Jack to go through. "Might as well be doing something while you stand around in here," she had said, but she gave him a sympathetic look all the same. A look at the ring glistening on her finger and he smiled at her, a smile of comradery. She knew what it was like to be apart from the one you loved, too – even when that one was standing right next to her instead of a universe away._

_By the next hour he was starting to lose that hope he had been clinging to so desperately the past year. By the fifth, he was sitting on the jump seat with his feet propped on the console, counting off happy primes to keep his mind from…_

"_It's not going to work," he said, his voice crumpling in defeat. "I was given that one chance to see her, to make things right, and I botched it up."_

"_If by 'make things right' you mean finally tell her you love her, I think she got the message," Jack said, looking up from another chart. He snorted derisively._

"_Oh, yes – 'wham, bam, thank you, ma'am' is _exactly_ the same as 'I love you'," he said, and he groaned as he let his feet droop from the console, rocking forward as he placed his head in his hands. "It's not fair – it's not bloody fair! The universe can't just give her back and then take her away again!"_

_He was so busy yelling he missed the jerking, or Jack's shout as reality slipped left. But when he looked up his eyes snapped open as he found himself back in her flat, sitting on that sofa they had…he laughed and jumped up, pumping his fist in the air as he twirled with a whoop._

"_It worked!" he laughed, bouncing again as he looked around. "I was right! Ha ha! It worked!"_

"_Who the bloody hell are you?"_

_He hadn't, however, been expecting the gruff, decidedly male voice barking that particular question at him. He whirled around, his eyes popping wide again at the man leaning on the counter in the passway to the kitchen. The very familiar man. The…bloody hell, what was Owen Harper doing in Rose's flat?_

"_Erm…sorry, right…erm, does Rose Tyler live here, by any chance?" he asked, and the alternate Owen arched a brow at him._

"_Yeah," he said, and his relief was short-lived as his initial question came back to mind: what was _Owen Harper_ doing in Rose's flat?_

"_Oh," was all he could say. He stood there, rubbing the back of his neck as his other hand fisted in his pocket. Brilliant._

"_Who are you?" Owen asked again, and he frowned at him._

"_I'm the Doctor," he said. His frown deepened. "Is…is Rose here?"_

"_In here, Doctor," he heard her call from the kitchen, and despite the awkwardness of AlternaOwen looking at him like he was the plague his hearts soared at her voice. Without giving Owen another thought he leapt over the sofa and raced into the kitchen, barely thinking to catch himself on the doorway as he stumbled to a halt. There she was, by the stove with her arms folded over her chest and looking murderous and…was she cooking?_

_Oh, hell._

"…_those aren't grits, are they?" he gulped, backing up slightly. Her lips twitched as a brow rose, and he could tell – despite her obvious ire – she wanted to laugh._

"_What the hell are grits?" Owen asked, whirling around on the stool he was seated at to give him another spiteful look._

"_They don't have grits here," she said, lips twitching again, "but even if they did I doubt I'd make 'em. Never cared for grits."_

"_Oh, good for me, then," he said. Her gaze darkened._

"_But I could always make an exception, yeah?" she asked. She turned back to the stove and picked up a spoon, stirring whatever it was she was cooking in the pot. "Why are you here?"_

_Her voice was like acid, so much colder than the last time he had come. Mocking disbelief washing away into so much love then, but now…_

"_To apologize," he said. He watched her grip tighten on the spoon, and he knew if he could see her face it would be mirroring the irritation._

"_You do that a lot," she said. "Sorry doesn't mean much from you."_

_He bit back the shout he wanted to spit at her; he deserved it, after all. Well, ok, not really, but…oh, maybe he did. He wasn't sure anymore. All he knew was that they only had…nineteen hours left, roughly, and he wanted her to stop being mad at him. They shouldn't be spending those hours yelling at each other._

"_Rose, you have to listen to me, all right? About last time, I'm not sorry. Well, I am, but not for what you probably think. I'm sorry I had to leave. I'm really sorry I had to leave before getting dressed – that would've saved a rather embarrassing moment, believe me," he said, frowning as he thought back to that uncomfortable morning._

"_If you came back for your suit, I burned it," she said. He paused, eyes going wide._

"_You what?" he asked. "But…but…that was my favorite tie!"_

"_Not really," she said, looking over her shoulder at him just slightly. He saw the barest hint of a smile in her eyes, and he relaxed slightly. "But it would serve you right if I did – and I'd definitely burn that one. Honestly, blue?" She paused, and he let her jab go. He wouldn't spend this time fighting her. He wouldn't. "Why did you leave?"_

"_Why's Owen Harper in your…no, right – your question first," he said, nodding. He ignored the spluttering Owen fell into at the sound of his name and nodded at Rose. "There's something happening, Rose, and I don't know what. But whatever it is, I'm not gonna question it. It's big, and it's powerful, and it's making a way back to you."_

"_What?" she asked, spinning around and dropping the spoon to the floor. He ignored the clatter and nodded._

"_Somehow the walls between universes are wearing thin," he said, "but only for a day. One day, once a year. And it happened for the first time last year, and I wasn't even sure it was going to work again. Blimey, Rose, I didn't even know it had happened the first time until I woke up naked under the console!"_

"…_you thought it wasn't real," she said, frowning. He nodded._

"_A dream, at first. Then I woke up and realized it wasn't," he said. "I'm sorry."_

"_You have dreams about me often, then?" she asked, smiling slightly. He grinned._

"_More than you'd guess," he told her._

"_Wait, so you're the ex?"_

_They both looked at Owen then, and judging from Rose's expression he had a feeling she had forgotten the man was there. She looked back to him for a moment, as if she wasn't sure what she should tell the man. He gave her a grin and looked back at Owen._

"_Well, I wouldn't really call me an ex," he said. Owen's eyes narrowed on him, and he grinned._

"_Then what would you call yourself?" he asked, and Rose cut in._

"_He's…he's the Doctor, Owen," she said, as if that explained everything. Maybe it did._

"_Never mentioned him before," Owen said. Rose sighed and looked down._

"_Owen's a doctor at the forensics department in Torchwood," she said. "We work together a lot, and…God, I was so mad at you. He's been after me for ages to go on a date with him – it figures the day I finally decide to say yes you show up again. Funny how you always know when there's some competition that needs chasing off."_

"_Well, I've been told I've a bit of a jealous streak," he said, and she laughed._

"_A bit?" she asked, and he smiled as he opened his arms to her._

"_C'mere," he said, and she smiled as she ran the few steps to him, falling into his arms like…well, there was no 'like'. She always had belonged there. He held her tight, burying his head in her hair and breathing her in. "I still can't believe I'm actually here. I can't believe I was here before and I…"_

"_Don't you dare apologize for that, Doctor," she said, squeezing him tight. "We both wanted it, even if you thought I was a dream."_

"_You are a dream, Rose," he said, pushing her back slightly and smiling at her. She rolled her eyes at him, nudging his shoulder._

"_Mr. Flattery, you are," she said. They jumped as Owen gave a bark of laughter._

"_Oh, come on, Rose! You're gonna buy into that? Ok, so he's your ex, but…he's an alien! And don't tell me he's not, not from what he's been saying and how he appeared in your living room like that!" the medic said, glaring at him. "And you told me your last boyfriend broke your heart – and with that half-assed apology you're just gonna go back with him?"_

"_Oy!" he snapped, indignant, but he paused as Rose put a hand on his shoulder._

"_Yeah, Owen, I am," she said. She smiled at him, that apologetic smile she gave whenever she felt awful about whatever it was she was about to do. "'Cause he's the Doctor, Owen. I went off with him when I was nineteen years old. Gave up my mum, my boyfriend, my…well, not my job, 'cause he blew it up, but my life. For him, and I never looked back."_

_She looked up at him, smiling widely and laughing a bit. He grinned back at her, leaning close enough that their noses bumped._

"_I'm not nineteen anymore, but I'd still leave it all behind for one chance with him," she said. She looked down, biting her lip before looking back at him with a sheepish smile. "My Doctor and all that, right?"_

"_Oh yes," he said, and he kissed her then, for the first time in a year. Owen gave out an "Oy!" as he jumped up from the stool, and Rose pulled away to look at him._

"_You can't just…blow me off like this!" he said. She sighed and disentangled herself form his arms, and he made a small noise of protest at it. She gave him a look, and he frowned as she went over to Owen. She gave him a quick hug – a hug that should have been _his_, mind, as they still were on the lesser side of nineteen hours – and patted his shoulder._

"_I'm sorry, Owen, but…you've gotta understand. My choice will always be the Doctor. It always has been," she said. Owen frowned at her._

"_But you heard him – you only get one day a year with him. You'd really rather have one day with him instead of every day with me? Or any bloke?"_

"_Yeah," she said, looking back at him to smile. "One day a year's better than no day. He's worth it, Owen. You don't know him, so you –"_

"_Actually, he does know me," he said, and they both looked at him with curious expressions. He grinned. "I know the him from our universe. Works with Jack – oh, he says hello, by the way – and I can tell you right now, even if he did know me he wouldn't like me much. Then again, I don't really like him, either, so all's fair, I suppose!"_

_He grinned at them, and Owen snorted. He gave Rose a look that said she was clearly mad and moved past them both, out into the living room to grab his coat. They heard the door slam a moment later, and he looked back to her with that same smile to find…she wasn't smiling anymore._

"_He works with Jack?" she asked. "Our Jack?"_

_Oh. Right. She hadn't been there to know he had run into Jack again, and really, as far as she knew he was dead. And they had been doing so well, too…_

"_Yes," he said. "Our Jack. He took over the Cardiff branch of Torchwood after Canary Wharf, rebuilt it to do the right thing. He's got a team and everything. They're…well, really they're a bunch of incompetent idiots, but they get the __job done. He helped me save the world a few years back, and…well, we keep in touch. I have to bail them out occasionally, and he does the same for me – why are you looking at me like that?"_

"_You said he had a future to rebuild," she said, her eyes narrowing. "We left him on that game station because _you_ said he had things to do in the future! And he was in Cardiff the whole time?!"_

"_Well, no – he did rebuild that future, yes," he said, reaching up to scratch his neck. "But then he used his vortex manipulator to hop back to when he could run in with an us that would correlate with his timeline. Missed the mark by about 200 years, and after his hopper burnt out he – what now?"_

"_Two hundred years?" she asked, her face paling. "Oh my God. Doctor, what…how…what happened to him?"_

'_You. You and the TARDIS and that whole Bad Wolf mess you killed me with.' She deserved to know; he should tell her. But…she had never really remembered everything that happened that day, and…he didn't want to. He didn't want to dump it all on her, especially not like this. If he had the time to stay and help her through it it would be different, but…not like this. He couldn't tell her like this._

"_Well, you know –" he started, shrugging slightly, and he stopped at the look in her eyes._

"_Don't lie to me, Doctor," she said. "I'm not…I'm not the same Rose that first landed here."_

"_Rose…" he sighed, and she shook her head._

"_I remember things sometimes, things I really wish I didn't. And I don't know if they're real or just these mad dreams I get from too much excitement at Torchwood, but…I don't know," she said, looking away. "I gave you that face, didn't I? And…Jack can't die, can he? And I'm the one who made him like that."_

_Ok, maybe he wasn't giving her enough credit, after all. He walked over to her and pulled her close, hugging her so tightly he was sure she'd have trouble breathing. But she held him just as close, and he felt her shake as unsteady sobs were ripped from her. This wasn't how he had wanted to spend their day, but…_

"_I think it's you, too, who's doing this," he said after a long while had passed. She had calmed in his arms, and now he was just standing there, holding her. "Rose, I can't explain what's happening to the walls. I've spent the past year trying to, or at least trying to figure out what's pulling me here, but…there's nothing. There's no way to reason it out. But…there are markers, right? Little markers, here and there, soaked in vortex energy and…it's the same as when you became Bad Wolf. I think you're doing it, Rose, even if you don't realize it. And I think you've been doing it ever since you got here, little bits at a time, and it's only strong enough to bring me here now."_

"_But…you took it away from me," she said, looking up at him. "That's what made you regenerate, isn't it? You took the energy from me, and –"_

That was when the smoke alarm went off – around the same time Rose had remembered she had been cooking when he had popped up. Her dinner had been ruined, and they had shared a laugh over how her cooking was as bad as Jackie's (it wasn't really; he knew that from before) as they cleaned up. She had opted for pizza instead, and they spent the time waiting for it and the time after it arrived just…talking. He had had so much to explain, with Jack and Bad Wolf and everything from before, and she had had so much to tell him about Torchwood and how she was carrying on in this alternate world.

She had told him how she had moved out of Pete's mansion a few months after their goodbye. It wasn't her, she had said – it was big, but it wasn't the same as the TARDIS. So she found a flat on the Powell Estates, not quite the one she had grown up in but near enough. There were slight differences in the architecture – things like a balcony in her bedroom and other minor differences – but it was still basically the same. He had told her about Martha and Donna, the Master and the Year that Never Was, the Face of Boe passing – they spent the night laughing and crying, catching up and rediscovering each other and just being together.

She had called out the next day, calling for a personal day that was automatically granted because she was the Director's daughter and apparently one of their best agents. She downed a good two pots of coffee, trying everything to stay awake and with him. But by the time their sixteenth hour came around she had been exhausted.

"_Go to sleep, Rose," he said, and she shook her head as she curled closer to him on the sofa._

"_I can't," she said. "How much time do we have left?"_

"'_Bout three hours," he said, and she nodded._

"_I can do three hours…easy," she said, but by the yawn that interrupted her sentence he wasn't convinced. She saw the look he gave her, and she frowned. "It's not fair. You're all Time Lord and superior physiology and 'I don't need sleep', and I'm –"_

"_Human," he said, and she gave his shoulder a playful slap at that. "You need to sleep, Rose."_

"_S'like you said, Doctor. I only get this one day with you – I don't wanna spend it…spend it…sleeping," she said, her sentence again interrupted by a yawn. He kissed her forehead and sighed, resting his head against hers. "It's not fair."_

"_It's not, but right now it's all we have," he said. "And –"_

_He stopped, gritting his teeth against the niggling in his gut. Not now. Please, not now._

"_Doctor?" she asked, looking up at him. He opened his eyes and smiled at her, all the while cursing the multiverse for not letting them have those last three hours._

"_Time to go," he said, and she frowned at him._

"_See you next year, then?" she asked, and he laughed slightly as he nodded. He grit his teeth again, fighting against the force pulling him back._

"_Next year," he said, and he leaned down to give her one last kiss. "I love you, Rose Tyler."_

"_Quite right, too, Doctor," she said, and she kissed him again. When he opened his eyes, he was back in the TARDIS._

He had walked out of his ship to find Jack waiting for him outside the doors. The captain had made a comment about how at least he had his clothes with him this time, but the humor had left his voice when he asked how she was. They had spent the rest of the day talking about her and what was happening and by the next day he was gone, back to another year of travelling alone.

The third time, she had questioned their newfound forever.

_They sat on the balcony of her eighteenth-floor flat, curled up against the wall and watching the sinking sun. She was pressed against his chest, and there was an old blanket that he held tight around them to block the chill. She sighed and leaned back into him, her head fitting perfectly in the place between his neck and shoulder, like it had been made just for her. A part of him thought it had been._

"_I hate that I can only see you today," she said, and he didn't answer her. "I want to go home with you, but…if this is all we can have, then I'm ok with it, yeah?"_

"_It may not be forever, Rose," he said, giving her a reassuring squeeze. "It took whatever's doing this three years before it built up enough power to get the walls thin enough to pull me through. Just a few more years and they may be thin enough to let me come through properly, with the TARDIS and everything. I've been monitoring them, you know, just in case they do. Then I can take you home, and we'll go on about our forever just like we always planned."_

"_But…you don't know how many years it'll take," she said, her voice dropping so low he almost didn't hear her. Or maybe he just didn't want to, just like he didn't want to hear her next question. "What happens if it takes too long, Doctor? What happens when it takes years and years and I'm here, too old to come with you? What if I die before it's strong enough?"_

_He should have told her something comforting. Something like how she was talking rubbish, or that it would only be another year or so, or that – if he's right, and it's the TARDIS and Bad Wolf doing this – she might not die as soon as she thought ("You did it to Jack – why not yourself?"). There were a million and one things he could tell her to make her feel better, and they were all on the tip of his tongue._

_But he didn't answer, instead turning her face slightly to kiss her. He was rough and desperate, and he knew he might have worried her with his severity. But he was willing away her questions, kissing her and loving her with an intensity a billion lifetimes brighter than that sun he had burned up to say goodbye. It was his declaration, his outcry to a multiverse that always seemed to want them apart, that she was his and it wouldn't be taking her again. It would give them their forever, because damn it it owed him, and he deserved this – they deserved this._

They had fallen asleep curled together in that blanket on the balcony, and he had held her tight and watched her sleep as the sun started rising in the sky. He had watched until it glinted off the windows of the buildings, comparing the minor differences with the Earth back in their universe, before he had scooped her up and carried her back inside. He had laid her on her bed, tucking her in before he went out to gather their clothes. He had dressed in silence, and then had settled on the bed next to her. Again he had watched her sleep, still willing away her questions even as he felt the jerking pulling him away. But when he was back, lying on the floor of the console room and staring up at the still rotor, he couldn't keep her terrified voice from his mind.

"_What if I die before it's strong enough?"_

The next time, he had learned she hadn't told Jackie about his yearly visits – and earned the slap mark to prove it.

_He was contemplating what absolutely brilliant thing he could say to announce his presence when he slipped left, giving a quick grin to Jack and opening his mouth to say that something brilliant…before he snapped it shut at the shouting that quickly filled his ears. Familiar shouting – shouting like…_

_Oh, Rassilon, no._

"_And you never even told us, Rose! We're your bloody parents – we deserve to know you –" Jackie Tyler shouted from the bedroom, and he winced as he heard something heavy thud and Rose's furious voice snap back at her._

"_Don't you think I know that, Mum?! I would have told you if I knew, but I obviously didn't! S'not like I've ever been shot there before, is it?" she snapped, and a lead weight dropped in his stomach. A lead weight mixed with a twinge of hope, expelling the quiet fears he'd been dreading over ever since last year._

"_Well how am I supposed to know?! You're so secretive these days, all your special projects and late nights, and you're pulling Mickey in on it, too, but you won't even tell him what it's about! And if you have you won't let him tell us, and your dad's worried, Rose! And so am I!" Jackie said, and he stopped his trek down the hall as he heard another __slam. "And what happens when we're gone, sweetheart? That bloody alien git isn't coming back for you, and you'll be here all alone, and –"_

"_Stop it!" Rose screamed, and he winced as something glass shattered somewhere in the room. "Just stop it, will you?! You don't know what you're talking about, Mum! And I don't know what I'll do, but I'll manage, yeah? I always have before!"_

"_Rose, sweetheart, listen to yourself! It's not gonna be as easy as all that – normal people die like they're supposed to! A hundred years go by and you're still alive, and what's gonna happen? They'll cut you up for experiments and such, and – what's the look for, then?" the shrieking voice stopped, Rose cutting across once more._

"_Mum, I know you're worried, and I promise we'll talk about this later, but I'm expecting someone, yeah? And he's gonna be here any time now, and I'd really like you to not be here when he arrives," Rose said, and he considered slipping into the room at his side when he saw her appear by the partially-closed door and grab the handle._

"_He? _He_? What's this about a 'he', then? You been dating someone and not telling us, Rose?" Jackie asked, and he grinned as he saw her appear before Rose. Her and her considerably pregnant stomach, from the looks of things._

"_What if I am?" Rose asked, her voice defiant, and Jackie snorted._

"_Well, s'not like you really should, is it? You can't die, and how fair is it to get involved with someone – oh my God!" Jackie screamed, her eyes landing on him, and he grinned as he waved. 'Course, that probably wasn't the best thing to do, but…well, it _was_ Jackie._

"_What? What're you…oh," Rose said as she turned, and that lead weight dropped even lower as he saw the bruises lining her face. Without giving another thought to Jackie, he raced forward and pushed the door open, taking her face in his hands._

"_What happened?" he asked, and she grinned at him. The gesture looked so out of place among the black, purple, and red blotches. He brushed his thumb under her black eye, that weight twisting into so many complex knots._

"_Bad day at the office," she said. "Weevil cult broke out and took over some floors – got smart with some guns, and…I'm fine, really! Don't look like that!"_

"_You look like…well, hell," he said, and she laughed._

"_Been through worse," she said. She arched her neck and groaned. "Really wish you could've brought the med bay with you, though."_

"_What the hell's going on here?" they both turned to Jackie to find her standing there, looking exceptionally cross with her hands on her hips and…oh, no. He did _not_ like the way her fingers were twitching like that. That usually meant…_

"_Erm, Rose, you did tell ol' Jacks here about my visits, right?" he asked, his hands dropping from her face as he took a step back towards the door. At Jackie's murderous look he threw up his hands. "Not that you're old!"_

"_Not as much, no," she said, giving him a nervous smile. "Just…never came up. Figured I'd tell her when you could come through for more than a day. Y'know, when I can go with you?"_

"_What're you two on about? He's been here before? When? Oh my God, you're taking her away again!" Jackie cried, and he ducked completely behind Rose at the terrified look her face._

"_Thought you were worried about me – now you're using me as a shield?" Rose muttered to him, and he gulped._

"_She won't slap _you_," he hissed at her. He felt her shake slightly, and he glanced at her to see her biting her lip to hide her laughter. He glanced back at Jackie to see she'd overcome her fear and was advancing._

"_You listen here, you bloody Time Lord wanker," Jackie hissed, and Rose gave him a smile before she side-stepped. He opened his mouth to protest, but then he was being shoved against the wall by a dangerously manicured nail poking into his chest. "You made her a…a…a _thing_, and then you just dump her here for years and years, breaking her heart on your way, and then you think you can just swan back into her life and…and…take her away again?! I won't have it – I won't! You put our family back together just to rip us apart, and Mattie needs his big sister, and…and…oh, you…!"_

_He should have been used to that feeling of having his head leave his neck, and in all fairness he was – the Tyler Slap wasn't something you easily forgot. It was the crashing into the wall behind him and his glass jaw that gave him the problem._

_When he came to a few minutes later, Rose and Jackie were still arguing. He was on Rose's bed, and she was sitting beside him with his head in her lap. He was rather enjoying the way her fingers were running through his hair , but then he heard Jackie's pacing and worried prattling and he found it hard to concentrate on the way her nails were lightly scratching his scalp._

"_I didn't mean to kill him! I just…oh, but it's that ruddy jaw of his – don't know how he's survived all those nine hundred years he claims to have lived with it!" Jackie said, and he heard Rose sigh._

"_He's had different bodies over the years, Mum – he hasn't always been this easy to knock out," she said. Jackie snorted._

"_Well, lucky you are he never had to save the world by being a professional boxer – he'd never survive the sport!" she said, and Rose laughed._

"_No, he wouldn't," she said. He groaned and frowned, and they both stopped to look at him._

"_No, I wouldn't," he affirmed, "but I do play a mean game of cricket."_

"_Doctor! Oh God, I'm so sorry! How are you feeling? Do you need some ice? Bag of frozen peas, a steak, some aspirin?" Jackie asked, and he leapt up to find she had taken a seat next to them on the bed._

"_NO!" he shouted, and Jackie paused to give him a look._

"_Well, see if I ever offer you help again, you ungrateful git," she said, and Rose laughed._

"_No, it's not that, Mum – he's allergic to aspirin," she said. "Could kill him."_

"_Oh," Jackie said, pausing._

"_Well, only figures you'd offer – always knew you wanted to kill me," he muttered, rubbing his jaw. "Blimey, you've got a hand on you! I did not miss that, Jackie Tyler – I really didn't."_

"_I'm sorry, Doctor – it's the hormones. I don't know up from down most days when it comes to my moods," she said. "It's just a surprise, is all – you showing up like this. And Rose here said you've been by before – something about once a year? Does this mean she'll be going with you this time?"_

"_No," he said, and he gave Rose an apologetic look. "The walls are still too strong. Can't pull the TARDIS through just yet, but in another year or so and we might be luckier."_

"_Oh, thank God!" Jackie said, and Rose gave her an annoyed look. "Don't give me that look, Miss Tyler – you're still old enough to get a slap off me!"_

"_Mum, I _want_ to go back with him!" Rose said. She looked down, and he barely heard the accompanying whisper. "Now more than ever…"_

"_I know you do, but honestly, Rose! You weren't even giving us time to get used to the idea – we didn't even know he was coming back! You were just gonna swan off again, weren't you? Without a goodbye or anything – how could you do that to us again, Rose? We're your family!" Jackie said, and Rose rounded on her with a fierce look._

"_So's he, Mum!" she snapped, and Jackie paused. "He's the one I chose when I had to, and no, I wasn't gonna swan off! I was gonna tell you, I swear! Just…never found the right time."_

"_There's never a right time to tell your mum you're leaving her forever," Jackie said, and he held up a hand before she could continue. She raised a brow, and he sighed._

"_Jackie, I thought she would have told you – I honestly did. I'm sorry you had to find out this way, but Rose does have a point," he said, and Jackie sighed._

"_I know that," she snapped. "It's just my baby's leaving me again, and I'm pregnant, Doctor – do you expect me to be rational?!"_

"_I expect you to stop yelling at me," he said, and he scooted closer to Rose as Jackie leaned closer to him. "Or not – yell all you want, fine by me!"_

"_Oh, you…well, come on, then," Jackie said, pushing herself off the bed and turning to give them an expectant look when they stayed where they were. "Come on, we don't have all day!"_

"_Um…Mum, he's only here for a day," Rose said. He looked up at her and grinned._

"_Oh, I do, don't I?" he asked, beaming at her. "Pulled me through right when the window opened – we've got twenty-four hours!"_

"_Seriously?" Rose asked, looking down at him. He nodded, and she grinned. "Fantastic!"_

"_Absolutely brilliant," he said, and they laughed as she leaned down to touch her nose to his._

"_That's enough, you two – like you said, a whole day," Jackie said, and they looked back at her. "That's enough time for a family dinner. Pete and Mickey'll be thrilled to see you, Doctor. Oh, and Mattie – you haven't met Mattie yet!"_

"_The baby? Well, the first baby?" he asked, and Jackie nodded. He grinned. "How's he turned out, then?"_

"_Oh, still young enough to be a right little terror," Jackie said, and he looked up at Rose to see her biting her lip. So _that's_ where she got that from. Figured._

"_But, Mum, it's just a day," Rose said, looking back to Jackie._

"_What, and you wanted all that time to yourselves? Lord only knows what you'd get yourselves into – best not leave you unsupervised," Jackie said, and he nearly gagged. She narrowed her eyes on him. "Oh, I know _exactly_ what you were thinking, you bloody Time Lord wan-"_

"_Oy, can you please stop calling me that?!" he asked, frowning. "Really, I'd rather you stick with 'bloody alien git', if you must insult me at all – which I'm perfectly fine with, oh yes! Feel free to insult all you like!"_

"_You are such a wimp," Rose muttered, and he shot her a look. He was _not_ a wimp – he was just terrified of her mother. There was a _very_ healthy difference._

"_You'll have plenty of time to shag my daughter later," Jackie said, and they both gagged at that._

"_Mum!" Rose cried as he shouted out an exasperated "Jackie!"_

"_Oh, come off it – you both know I know that's what you're really wanting to get up to," Jackie said, and he sent Rose a scowl as she snorted. He was almost positive he heard her mutter "Up, indeed," but he ignored it as he looked back to Jackie._

"_All right, fine – we'll come," he said. He looked back to Rose and ran a hand along her cheek. "As long as you explain about this at some point before I have to go."_

"_What's there to explain, Doctor?" she asked, reaching out and taking his hand. "I promised you forever. Looks like Bad Wolf wanted to make sure I kept it."_

Kept it, indeed. Four more years had passed since that night, which they spent at the Tyler Estate talking and laughing with the family and being perfectly domestic. Most of those other years had been spent similarly, either with the family or just together in her flat. It had been ok, for the most part, but…this last time, this night, he didn't know if he could do it anymore.

"_You will tell us where your bouncing brat is, Doctor!"_

_He coughed, looking up from where his captors had slammed him into the corner of their dark, dingy dungeon. Why was it always a dark, dingy dungeon? Just once he'd like a nice, clean, preferably sterile floor he was being thrown down and beat up on. Really, was it too much to ask?_

"_I will not!" he said, hoisting himself up off the ground. He ignored the fact that he didn't even have a bouncing brat and glared at his captors. The leader, a man that would have looked Chinese if not for the lavender skin (including those ridiculous boxy black hats, nearly fluorescent orange robes, and ridiculously triangular beard), rose a penciled-in eyebrow and grinned. Oh. Shiny green teeth. That was new._

"_Oh, won't you?" he sneered, reaching over to hover his hand over a button. A big threatening button that probably should never ever…oh, sod it. He really wasn't in the mood right now._

"_Right, I won't," he said. "I will not tell you where my bouncing brat is, I will not tell you where my blue box is, I will not take you to my leader, I will not tell you how I keep these trainers so white, I will not tell you how to reverse the po-OY!"_

_He was thrown into the air, forced into dangling upside-down because of…well, some gravity-affecting device connected to that big threatening button that probably shou-_

"_This really isn't fair! Let me down!" he said, and the Would-Be Chinese Man laughed. Oh, he hated the camp ones. He really, really did._

"_I think not, Doctor! Not until you tell us where your brat is!" Would-Be Chinese Man barked, and he groaned as his head flopped back._

"_Oh, come on – I don't have a brat! I haven't had a brat in ages – last of my kind, I am! I've never even been here before, well not yet at least, so really you've got the wrong me and – ACK!"_

_It was at that point he realized he had lost track of Earth time in his time on this planet, when he felt that jerking and slipped left and down – right onto his head, right onto Rose's floor._

"_Oh my God!" he heard her cry, and he groaned as he let his body relax against the carpet. He kept his eyes closed, even when he felt her kneel by his side and hover her hands over him, not exactly sure how to help but wanting to all the same. "What the hell happened to you?!"_

"_Apparently my bouncing brat pissed off the royal family of…I think I'm feeling this four bodies back," he groaned. "Bright side, I think you just saved my arse from some horribly overdone death sequence. Maybe if I'm lucky by the time I get back they'll have cleared the room and I can get back to the TARDIS and – OW! What the hell did you do that for?!"_

"_Sorry – I was just trying to help!" she said, taking her hands out from under his head – and letting it drop back on the floor, sending another wave of pain down his spine. She winced at his cry, and he opened his eyes just slightly to see her run back over to the sofa. He closed them again as he felt her slide a cushion under his head, and he groaned._

"_I'm getting too old for this," he muttered, and she laughed._

"_Big strong Time Lord like you? Nah – just a bad day," she said. He cracked an eye open at her, and she grinned. "Should've seen me yesterday – could've murdered a hot bath and a…do you need anything?"_

"_A few minutes to get my head back on?" he asked, looking up at her. He smiled as he focused on her eyes, and he let out a weak laugh. "Hello."_

"_Hello," she said, laughing with him. He reached up and curled some of her hair around his fingers._

"_You cut your hair," he said. She nodded. "I like it."_

"_S'nothing much, but I thought it'd be nice," she said. She ran a hand along the side of his face, and his eyes closed at the contact. "I'll go make you a cuppa, yeah? You stay here, or go to the sofa if you can make it. But…I'll just be a mo, yeah?"_

_She leaned down and kissed him, and he sighed as she pulled away. Much better than Mr. Would-Be Chinese man. He stayed there on the floor, getting his bearings back in place and reorienting himself with the world of not running for your life. He stretched slightly, feeling out his injuries and nodding; the worst was his head, and that was only from his fall. He hadn't been prisoner long enough to accrue any serious damage._

"_Got your tea," she said, and he opened his eyes as she set it on the table next to them. She sat back by his head and frowned at him. "What happened again? And what's this about a bouncing brat?"_

"_No idea," he said. "I was just there for a quick visit, and the next thing I know I'm being arrested because some toddler that was supposedly mine insulted the royal family. I tried telling them I didn't have a toddler, but of course they wouldn't listen to me. What's the look for, then?"_

_She was smiling, ever so slightly, and looking out the window. He reached up and touched her face, and when she looked back at him her smile widened. He grinned; he knew that look all too well._

"_What've you figured out that I haven't?" he asked, and she placed her hand over his._

"_Might not've been you, but it might've been a future you – a future you with a future me and a future toddler that goes around insulting royals," she said. He laughed, and she laughed with him. "Chip off the old block, I'd say."_

"_They definitely weren't amused by whatever she had done," he said, and her eyes widened._

"_She?" she asked, and he nodded._

"_That's what they told me," he said. He sighed and let his eyes close again, relaxing against her. "Can we not see the family this time? I really don't feel like a row with Jackie after cracking my head on your floor. I could just stay right here, to be honest. I rather like it right here."_

"_Floor's not very comfortable, though. We should move you to the sofa, or the bed. Get you off the floor and your head on some proper pillows," she said. He grinned, reaching up for her hand and chuckling as she grasped his._

"_You just want me in your bed, Miss Tyler," he said, and she laughed._

"_You've found me out, my good Doctor," she said. She leaned down and kissed him again, languorously this time. "I want you in my bed so I can have my way with you – but I want your head better first."_

"_I want you back, Rose," he said, and she paused as he opened his eyes. She frowned at the intense look there, so determined yet weary and torn at the same time._

"_You've got me back," she said, but he shook his head._

"_I don't want just one sodding day with you," he said. He took her hand and brought it to his lips, placing a kiss against her palm. "I want you back home. I want the TARDIS to have your laughter in her again. I want to wake up every morning to find you right there next to me. I want to grab your hand when I'm running somewhere, or have you with me when I'm tossed in some prison. I want to take you back to Cardiff so you can see Jack, and introduce you to Donna and Martha, and take you by Sarah Jane's to meet Luke. I want you there telling me when I'm being rude again, and making me stop when I've been working on the TARDIS too long or about to do something I really shouldn't. I want you home, Rose."_

"_I know, Doctor," she said, squeezing his hand. "I want me home, too. Any idea how much longer it'll take before you can bring her through?"_

_He looked up at her, his face torn._

"_I…" he started, but then he lost his courage – always the coward, he was. He looked out the window, and she ran a hand through his hair. His eyes closed, and he sighed. "I don't know if she'll ever be able to come through, Rose. And I don't know how to bring you back with me. I've hit a wall, and I can't for the life of me figure out how to break through it."_

"_Stop it," she snapped, and he looked up at her to find her glaring at him. He paused, taking in her hard stare and determined eyes. "Just stop it, you bloody Time Lord git. I'm coming through someday – you know I am. Those gits that captured you today told you as much. You'll figure it out somehow, but don't you dare give up."_

"_Rose…" he sighed, but he stopped when she shook her head._

"_I haven't given up on you, Doctor," she said. "You'll find a way – you always do. Just believe in yourself, yeah? Believe in me – in us. In that little girl that's gonna go around not amusing royals all across the universe. Don't take our forever away now that we finally have it back. Don't you dare."_

_And with that she leaned down and kissed him hard, willing all of her faith and trust and hope into him through that one simple gesture. And he was forced to remember his words, so very long ago, as she ran a hand under his jacket and down his chest. She was right – he believed in her. And that was enough – it had to be. It always was before._

He looked up at the first rays of dawn slinking in through the open balcony doors, and a part of him cursed them. He felt more time slip through his hands as the room grew brighter, and he knew it would be time soon. He'd be gone with the morning light, and she'd be left alone again for another year. They both would be.

But she was right: he couldn't give up yet. He would find a way to make it work, somehow – he would be coming through on his own next year, and he'd be bringing her back with him. Because he couldn't live like this anymore, and he knew she couldn't, either. They needed each other, and not just once a year. His eyes slid closed as he felt the jerking in his gut, and he ducked his head to press a kiss to her temple. He ghosted his lips to her ear, and she shifted slightly as his breath tickled her hair.

"One more year, Rose Tyler," he whispered to her, even as he felt himself being pulled back. "One more year and I'll bring you home for good."


	2. Wander a Thousand Miles Away

_**NOTE: I'm ignoring TW S2 for this, as I haven't seen it all and this part is set around oh, eight or so years after its finale? (…and Owen 'n Tosh refused to be left out.) Also, I'm terribly sorry this's taken so long; I kinda lost inspiration for it while Marvin was in limbo (completely ignoring the school hell…) – thanks all for putting up with me and my horrible lack-of-a-schedule-ness.**_

**Gone with the Morning**

**Part II: Wander a Thousand Miles Away**

_Oh, what would I do now just to talk to you a thousand miles away?_

_What I wouldn't give for only one night, a little relief in sight_

_Some day when times weren't so tight_

_When the day goes down on the water town_

_When the sun sinks low all around_

_That's when I know I, I need you now_

_Yeah, sure what I miss – every little kiss_

_Every little one, every little one_

"Every Little Kiss" – Sarah Evans

Crossing the Void was always a bit like drowning, she thought. Not that she really knew what drowning was like, but if she did she imagined it would be ridiculously close.

She was in an alley somewhere, leaning on all fours and gasping for breath as she tried to regain her equilibrium. A shudder raced down her spine, and she gulped another breath as her eyes closed. There was a kick of protest in her womb, and she laughed shakily as she rubbed a hand over the slight bulge in her stomach. A flare in the back of her mind, the slightly psychic part of her half-Time Lord baby crying out in protest to the rough trip, and she sent a wave of comfort and reassurance her way. As she pushed herself back into a sitting position and looked around, she hoped she had gotten it right this time; she didn't know how much more Void-hopping their baby girl could take.

Five months ago, it had all seemed so simple.

"_I can't wait any more, Mickey," she said, staring blankly at her computer screen. He looked up across from their double desk, frowning as he stopped whatever online game he'd been playing on the company's pound. She looked over at him, and his eyes widened at the unshed tears in her own. "I can't do this. He doesn't think he'll ever be able to bring the TARDIS through, and we need to get back to him, and –"_

"_We?" he asked, and she looked away before she could see his frown. She laid her fingers over her keyboard, trying to act like she hadn't said a thing, but he wasn't letting her get away with it. "Babe, it's just you going back to that universe. What's this about a 'we'?"_

"_Finally went to the doctor's yesterday," she said, fingers still lying motionless over the keys. Mickey quirked a brow at her, and she looked down. "I'm not sick, Mickey."_

"_Then what is it? You've been up and down all month, Rose," Mickey said, and she took a breath._

"_I'm pregnant," she said, and she jumped as he gave out a startled "What?!" She looked over to him, smiling a bit. "Yeah. 'Bout a month gone, maybe a bit earlier."_

"_But…that's not possible, right? That whole thing about different species not being able to…to mate?" he asked, and she looked at him._

"_He's half-human," she said, and his eyes widened. "Besides, some species are compatible with humans, Mickey. Time Lords are one of 'em."_

"_But…he's not here," Mickey said, and she gave him another Look. He shook his head. "But you're pregnant, Rose! With his kid! He should be here, shouldn't he? Who knows what freaky things his alien baby'll do to you!"_

"_Mickey!" she cried, exasperated, and he gave her an indignant look. Honestly, she had thought he'd be past all this by now! "Just stop it, ok? That's what I needed to talk to you about, but I don't know if I want your help if all you're gonna do is insult the Doctor!"_

"_Sorry, Rose," Mickey said, looking down. "You know I don't mean it. S'just...it _is_ an alien baby, Rose. The pregnancy might be different from a normal human. He should be here to help you, just in case."_

"_I know, and that's why I really need to get back to him. Among other reasons, but right now that's at the top," she said. She looked at him, her eyes serious. "Remember those projects we used to work on, after that first year he came through?"_

"_The ones we still have half done in the lab that Jackie used to yell at me about for never telling her what they are? The ones we still work on every now and then when you're getting a bit too antsy for his visit?" Mickey asked, smirking, and she grinned._

"_The same," she said. "I've already told Mum and Dad, and Dad said I can devote all my time working on 'em. You, too, if you want. Mickey, I need your help. I've got to get one of those devices working again, preferably before I get too pregnant to work."_

"_You know I'm in, babe," he said, grinning. "So, let's get you back home, yeah?"_

There was another kick, and she laughed as she splayed her fingers over where she had felt it. She reached over for the small bag she had brought with her, the one that had flung away from her upon reentry, and after sliding it onto her back hoisted herself up. She dusted off her jeans and walked over to a nearby bin, where she saw a crumpled newspaper trying to blow away with the chilled breeze.

"_How're you doing all this?" Mickey asked, leaning over the wristwatch she had been trying to convert into a Void-hopper (modeled off Jack's vortex manipulator, of course). She didn't look up from her work, instead grabbing for a pair of pliers and cursing as the device shocked her. Mickey nudged her shoulder, and she gave him an annoyed look. "Honestly, Rose – you're not _that_ good with machines. S'more my department – or the Doctor's."_

"_I can't explain it, Mickey. It's like she's…telling me what to do," she said, grinning when the device let out a low whine. It wasn't quite the hum she was aiming for, but it was closer than they'd been in weeks._

"_You so owe me five quid when he comes out a boy," Mickey said, sniffing as he plopped down on the stool next to her. "Anyway, what d'you mean, she's telling you what to do? She's a fetus, babe – can't exactly talk."_

"_Call her a 'fetus' again and I'll slap you," she muttered, ignoring his look. She might be a fetus, but as far as she was concerned she was her _baby_ – her baby girl, to be precise, and Mickey Smith would damn well treat her as such. She bit her lip and used her pliers to adjust a blue bulb off to the side; another whine, this one not as feline as the last. "It's like I told you – the Doctor's people were slightly psychic. I think that included their babies."_

"_So she's already a genius," Mickey said, and then he groaned. "Great – figures even his kid'll be calling me an idiot. So she really knows what to do?"_

"_Sorta," she said, putting the pliers down and grabbing some tweezers and a small copper wire. "It's like…she doesn't _know_, but she knows. Gets hunches and points me in the right direction. Almost like she's channeling her dad – if he's waiting when we show up there I wouldn't be surprised."_

"_Wha-woah!" Mickey cried, jumping back as the device flashed. A low hum filled the room, and she grinned as she saw the green light pulsing in the center. It wasn't as good as huon energy (List of Things to Inquire About Upon Return to the Doctor: Huon Particles and Importance to Time/Space Travel), but the alien substances she had bartered off some passers-through were working brilliantly – for now. She looked up at Mickey, grinning._

"_I'd say we're ready for a test drive," she said, and his lips formed a grim line as she reached under the desk and pulled out the small bag she had stashed there when they had first decided to pick up this project again. She slipped it onto her back and slid the device onto her wrist. Hopping off the stool, she turned and gave Mickey a brilliant grin. She wanted this to work, she really did, but that wouldn't keep her from missing the loveable not-so-idiot._

"_See you in a bit," he said, smiling sadly at her. Her grin wasn't as optimistic as she would have liked it to be._

"_Hope you won't," she said, and she pressed her finger to the activation button._

She chucked the paper back in the bin and turned, looking around disdainfully. Between stains and tears and a general coming-from-the-middle-ness, she hadn't been able to gain anything of use from the discarded sheet. She pulled her jacket closer around her, shivering as the temperature seemed to drop; well, at least it still _felt_ like the same time of year.

That didn't say much, though. Back at Torchwood London, they had had many failed attempts before they had figured out how to properly work the Void-hopper. It had taken her backwards in time, throwing her out all over London, time and time again. The first time she had popped in on a scene of mass hysteria. There had been a building with hundreds of dressed-up people running out, screaming about a monster. She hadn't lasted a minute in the crowds before the Void had pulled her back, leaving her gasping and shaking on the floor of the lab.

There had been many tries much the same – the only difference being that each time, each improvement on the device, led to an easier landing and a longer stay in her home universe. She had waited out her time on benches in parks, watching normal days pass by like nothing special was happening. She had gone back to the Estates, the ones that didn't have balconies and looked just as she remembered. She had seen the London streets empty and deserted, metal spheres flying about and terrified faces peeking out of boarded windows at her like she was mad. When one of the devices had flown up to her, asking for identification, she had realized why.

"_Bad Wolf," she said, years of working at Torchwood and traveling with the Doctor teaching her to never give a proper name – or at least an alias that would probably strike some semblance of fear in the asker – to something that could possibly kill you._

"_Bad Wolf? Oh, Master will be most pleased – you will be his new toy," the machine said in a child-like voice of twisted innocence. Her stomach knotted as the Gallifreyan instinct in her baby screamed against the name, coupled with horrifying reminiscings of the Doctor's memories from what he had called the Year that Never Was; the Master. Toclafane. For the first time since her Void-hopper had started working, she was glad to be pulled back to Pete's World, away from her home universe._

More tries, more failures, each time bringing her closer than the last. She remembered watching a cruise liner sail over Buckingham Palace, deserted streets at Christmastime as a news vender told her the city had been abandoned because of 'bloody aliens'. Those times had been ok, for the most part; she hadn't been able to stay very long, and she had never seen him in her hops back. It was the first time she had that had changed everything.

_She didn't know what they were, but she couldn't help thinking the little marshmallow aliens were…well, cute. She stood at the edge of a police line, blending in with the crowd and watching as they were pulled up in the levitation beams. One looked at her – right at her – and waved, and she smiled slightly, a hand slipping to her stomach as she waved back. She jumped at a sudden rushed voice behind her, and _

_she turned to see a ginger-haired woman walking down the road talking hurriedly on the phone. Her eyes widened as she recognized the girl throwing a set of keys in a nearby bin – Donna Noble, one of the two women that had traveled with the Doctor since she had fallen into the alternate world. She looked up the road, her heart clenching as she saw the TARDIS such a short distance away, and there he was._

_His back was to her (she thought maybe that was best), and he was picking up some luggage to take into the TARDIS. She suddenly found it rather difficult to breathe as she realized he wasn't the right Doctor; she had come through too soon again._

"_Listen, there's this woman that's gonna come along – a tall, blonde woman called Sylvia. Tell her, 'that bin there.' All right? It'll make sense – that bin there," Donna said, looking at her, and she smiled to let her know she had heard. And then Donna was off, running back towards the TARDIS and her time with the Doctor. She turned around, biting her lower lip as she looked back to the now-empty road. Another moment passed as she gathered her resolve, and then she turned and walked away from the crowd, back up the road to where the TARDIS doors had just closed. She looked down, clenching her fists at her sides as she let herself fade back to Torchwood. Not yet, then._

It was something she had seen out of the corner of her eye as she had walked back up the road. Graffiti sprawled along the wall near the TARDIS, two words: Bad Wolf. Buzzing from a street corner nearby, she had heard a businessman on his mobile talking about a need to go to Cardiff the next day. It had clicked into place before she had faded from that universe, and as soon as she had been well enough she had set back to work.

"_Cardiff? What do you mean, you're moving to Cardiff?" Mickey asked, watching as she packed up their equipment in padded duffles. The hopper on her wrist caught a glint of light, flashing at him as she rushed about._

"_It's all so simple, Mickey – I should've thought of it ages ago!" she said, looking up to give him a grin as she placed another bag by the other two on the floor. She pulled out a fourth and began packing it up. "We need more power, and what does Cardiff got running right through it that we don't?"_

"_A rift in time and space that spits out horror movie rejects on a daily basis?" he guessed, and she jabbed out a finger at him in a quick point._

"_Bingo!" she said, and she laughed. "We can use the energy from the Rift – harness it to properly power this thing. And if I tap into that bit of Bad Wolf still stuck in me, I might be able to steer properly and get me to the right home this time."_

"_You've gone barmy!" he said, face scrunching as his jaw dropped. "Rose, you can't 'harness' that kind of energy – it'll kill you!"_

_She stopped before him, dropping the bag slung over her arm next to the others. She gave him a brilliant smile, and it was almost enough to make him buy into her winning confidence. Almost – but she was Rose, and he was always a bit too protective of her. Even when she didn't need – or want – it._

"_Mickey, I once had the entire time vortex running through my head," she said, "and I lived. I can handle the Rift easy. Just…trust me on this, yeah? We have to try. We have to at least try."_

And now here she was, after some more slight modifications to tap into that Rift energy running through the parallel city. Cardiff – it was _always_ Cardiff – but in her world, not Pete's. She paused by a shop window lined with televisions, one of which was set to a news channel. 9:21 PM, November 2, 2016. She had made it. A grin split her face as she pressed a hand to the glass, laughing as she shook her head in disbelief. She had made it – and she couldn't feel the Void pulling her back.

She was home.

Well, almost – she just had to find the Doctor now. It would have been easier if she had had her old mobile; it hadn't been in her pocket that day at Canary Wharf, and as far as she knew it was back in the TARDIS (the Doctor had said he'd kept her old room, even if he never – hardly – went in it). With a sigh she turned, looking around. It wasn't far to the Plaiss – and there, hopefully, would be Torchwood Cardiff. There she would find Jack, and Jack (oh, she couldn't wait to see him again!) would know how to reach the Doctor. He had to.

"_I guess this is it, then," she said, looking at the device on her wrist. She looked up at Suzie, grinning as a nervous laugh slipped past her. "Thank you, Suzie. You've been a lifesaver these past few weeks."_

"_We don't know if it'll actually work yet, Rose," Suzie said, smiling. She sighed and pulled her into a hug, giving her a squeeze as she laughed. "But for your sake I hope it does. I'm gonna miss you, Rose Tyler."_

_She nodded, biting her lip to keep from crying. She just wished Mickey could be there; for all she knew, she wasn't coming back this time – and it was just like Mickey to be called out to Glasgow the day they complete the Void-hopper. She picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder, taking a deep breath._

"_This is it," Suzie said, turning on her stool to look at her. She nodded and grinned._

"_When you go see Tosh later, tell her I said thank you," she said, smiling as she thought of the other pregnant woman that had been helping them through most of this – until she had gone into labor two days prior. She shrugged. "Just in case I don't come back this time. And tell Owen he better take good care of her and the baby, or you've my permission to give him a good slap from me."_

"_I will," Suzie said, laughing. She paused a moment, and her finger hesitated over the button. "Rose? If…if you figure out a way to get a message through, do it, all right? Let us know you're safe. If you don't come back."_

"_I promise," she said, smiling, and with another breath she pressed the button._

Torchwood Cardiff was...missing.

She stood by a rail overlooking the Plaiss, her hands clenching the bar so tightly her skin bleached. Her eyes darted around the stretch of land, fervently searching for something that was so horribly _not there_ she felt she would retch. Her lips pursed, bleaching in that same way her hands had as the minutes ticked by and the building continued to be _not there_.

She didn't really think of herself as the kind of person prone to swearing, but at the moment...

Oh, _fuck_.

She looked down and took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. It wouldn't do her any good to get too excited; she wouldn't get anything accomplished that way, and who knows what kind of trouble it would do to her pregnancy. (She still had at least four more months, if Time Lord gestations were around the same length as humans, but still; freaking out never did a baby any good. It had sent Jackie into labor nearly an entire month too early – with both her siblings, come to think of it.)

Maybe she was looking at this the wrong way. Just because the building was missing didn't mean Torchwood Cardiff itself was missing. It couldn't be; hadn't the Doctor said that Jack worked there? At Torchwood, in Cardiff? So the establishment itself _had_ to be there. Maybe it was just located elsewhere; just because the Canary Wharf buildings were the same didn't mean the Cardiff buildings would be. Besides, hadn't the Torchwood in this universe been more of an underground operation? Maybe the building was in hiding. Maybe it was right in front of her and she didn't...

She closed her eyes, again forcing herself to take a moment to just breath. Rambling wouldn't do her any good, either. She just had to look at this from an objective angle; from a Torchwood angle. She had to...

...show some Spock!

She slipped her pack off and began fumbling through it, grinning as her hand closed around a small rectangular block of metal and plastic. She pulled out the device she had been searching for and pressed a button on the side; after a few moments of fiddling, a steady beeping filled her ears. Her eyes scanned the screen, her smile fading into a frown as a multitude of little lights appeared, growing larger as more time passed. She looked up, looking around in confusion; Cardiff couldn't be _that_ infested with off-world tech, could it?

She walked forward, towards the water fountain standing tall before the Millennium Center. The entire city was blinking with traces of off-world tech, but the greatest concentration was...here, under the fountain. Even the slab of pavement she was standing on registered as off-world tech, all signs pointing towards this being where Torchwood Cardiff should be. _Should_ be, just like back in Pete's World...so where was it?

She jumped at a crash behind her, and when she turned she saw a young man in a suit pushing himself up off the pavement; he was cursing under his breath, scuttling around to collect the papers that had fallen from his briefcase, which had fallen open to the ground – along with his drink – when he had tripped. She frowned, glancing back at the tower, before turning back towards him.

"Oi, you all right?" she called, but the man ignored her as he continued muttering, scooping up the papers. A woman walking by stopped and kneeled to help him, and he gave her an appreciative smile and a thank you; she frowned and called out again, but both continued to ignore her. It was as if…

Oh, she could slap herself sometimes.

She looked down at the slab she stood upon, drawing upon memories from so very long ago. To Cardiff, to Blon Fel Fotch and the earthquake caused by her ripping open the Rift – right on the TARDIS. To this very spot, where the Doctor had been parked when the TARDIS had been hit with all that energy. Had the TARDIS left a bit of herself behind, maybe a bit of her perception filter or…and did that mean that, maybe, she was standing on the entrance to Torchwood Cardiff, right here out in the open where no one could really notice her?

"So how do you work?" she asked no one in particular, kneeling down and knocking on the slab. She received no answer, but she hadn't really been expecting one. Concrete slabs don't normally talk back to you; it's when they do that you start worrying.

She glanced back to the device in her hand, still blinking steadily, and frowned. Maybe if she just…she fiddled with the controls a bit, and she jumped up as she pushed a button and the slab shook. She looked around, eyes wide with disbelief, as it began lowering her into the ground.

A part of her, a voice in her mind that sounded suspiciously like Mickey Smith, rolled its proverbial eyes and made a rather rude remark about Captain Jack and his affinity for flash.

When the lift finally stopped, she found herself in a long, industrial-looking hallway. She looked around, eyebrow raising at the flashing lights and Spartan appearance. But there, on the wall before her, was stamped a great source of comfort: the Torchwood logo, company name typed neatly below it. She stepped off the slab, and a hydraulic hiss and whirring alarm met her ears. She turned to see the lift rising back to the surface, and she frowned as she turned back to the hall. No going back now – though she didn't really think she'd need to. To her left the hall curved deeper into the underground tunnels, but to her right…she took a breath and headed towards what she guessed were the main offices, hoping this Torchwood didn't have a 'shoot first, ask later' policy.

The main office was deserted. It looked like the staff had peeled out in a rush, terminals still running and desks still a mess – one even holding a half-drunk mug of coffee. Up a short flight of stairs was an upper 

level, where a roomy glass-incased office was located. The base of the water fountain from the street was centered in the room, and when she looked up she saw a pterodactyl flying across the vaulted ceiling.

She laughed, her grin splitting her face at the sight. It was dirty, it was grungy, it was messy, it was…anything _but_ the clinical sterility she had come to associate Torchwood with in the other universe – and certainly nothing that would suggest Jack's usual flash. (She promptly told the Mickey-voice in her head to stuff it; the invisible lift was a nice touch, but _this _was anything but Jumping Jack Flash.) Shaking herself out of her thoughts and observations, she looked around for any signs of non-pterodactyl life.

"Hello?" she called, walking further into the room. Monitors flashed and devices whirred, but no answering voice came. Her frown deepened; the Torchwood offices in Pete's World were always set so that a retainer of personnel was left behind. The shifts rotated, and the buildings were always occupied. Why was this one so deserted? "Anyone here? Hello?"

An urgent beeping answered her, and she whirled around to a rather impressive terminal to find a monitor on the side going haywire. She watched rows and rows of data stream by in a window before another popped up, showing CCTV footage from a little farther into town. It looked like a Weevil, though more…devolved than the ones across the Void. More feral. And it didn't look happy – neither did the couple it was advancing on, for that matter…

She gripped her sidearm and scanned the screen again; it wasn't too far from here – she could leg it, hopefully in time to keep it from harming anyone. She checked her gun again, making sure the clip was loaded properly, before dashing back to the lift. Another voice, this one sounding suspiciously like the Doctor, started screaming in the back of her mind, telling her it was too dangerous in her condition; she promptly told that voice to stuff it, too.

– W –

"It's official: I'm never getting this slime off me," Owen groused as they trudged into the Hub. Gwen, who was in a far worse state than he, looked over at him and scowled. Jack put a hand on her shoulder, grinning at her, and the scowl faded into a smile as she reached up to kiss him. She raised her middle finger to Owen when he wolf-whistled, and Jack chuckled against her lips. He pulled away and looked around, assessing his team. They had all come back in one piece – if a bit more slimy. Tired and slimy, but still good.

"All right, kids, I think we all deserve some nice, long showers and some rest – what do you say we call it a night and get out of here?" he asked. Gwen nodded eagerly, but Owen's retort was cut off by Ianto.

"Does this bag belong to anyone?" he asked, holding up a black rucksack that had been dropped near the fountain. Jack's eyes narrowed on the bag as heads were shook all around.

"Jack! There's been another disturbance!" Tosh called, and the bag was momentarily forgotten as all attention was turned towards her. He really hated the times the Rift decided to get overactive. "It looks like a Weevil attack, but…I don't understand. Just before that there was a spike in Rift energy, and…oh my God. Interior CCTV says we've been breached."

"What?" Jack asked, letting go of Gwen to run over to Tosh's terminal. She was typing away furiously at her keyboard, but she paused to point at the fuzzy picture. His heart nearly stopped when his eyes landed on the woman on the screen; her face was partially cut off, but he still knew her. He'd know her anywhere. "Christ…"

"It looks like whoever she is saw the footage of the Weevil and then left – maybe she went after it?" Tosh asked, glancing at him, and he laughed.

"Yeah, that would be just like her," he said, grinning. He looked over at Ianto. "That bag is probably hers. Tosh, where did that Weevil come out, and when?"

"Looks like…few minutes ago, tops. Five at the most. It's just down the road – looks like we just missed her," she said, and though he knew it was inappropriate…he couldn't stop the laugh. He slapped Tosh on the back and whirled around, looking at the others.

"All right, then," he said. "Let's get going."

"Jack! You said shower and sleep – you called it a night!" Owen protested, and Jack shot him a look.

"And then I postponed it," he said. At Owen's look, he rolled his eyes. "Tosh, you and Ianto stay here and keep an eye on that Rift. Owen, Gwen, and I will go get our guests. And Ian? Get the Doctor on the phone."

"Sir?" Ianto asked as he turned with Gwen, Owen following behind dejectedly as they made their way to the vault door.

"Need to tell him the missus just came home," he said, winking at him. Ianto's eyes widened as he looked back to the screen, then back to Jack. Jack nodded, and without another word they were off.

– W –

"Oi!"

The Weevil – if it really was a Weevil, that is – jerked up at her voice. The couple it had been attacking – teenagers, couldn't be much older than nineteen each – turned and gawked at her, their faces a mix of terror and something akin to hope. She stopped next to them and gave the Weevil her fiercest glare.

"I'd stop now if I were you," she said, nodding at him…it. A low rumble came from its chest, not quite a growl but something in the near vicinity, and its head cocked slightly to the side. It was studying her, she realized. It didn't answer, just stood there and watched her. She found its behavior strange, and slightly discomforting; in Pete's World, the Weevils nearly looked and acted like overly violent humans. They were a bit more wrinkled, and they didn't have all the digits, but they still held the general appearance of a man – and they spoke. To hear the low growls coming from this one instead of a bolshy insult was…strange. It took a step closer towards her, and she pulled her gun out, leveling the weapon with it. She cocked an eyebrow, and its head tilted again. "Really, I would."

It paused, hanging back at the sight of the weapon. While it was distracted, she jerked her head to the side, glancing back at the couple and mouthing at them to "Run!" They cast a nervous look back to the snarling Weevil before heeding her advice, bolting as far away from them as possible. Her attention focused back to the Weevil.

"Really don't wanna use this, mate," she said, nodding the gun slightly, "but I will if I have to. Don't make me have to."

It snarled in response, and she tightened her grip on the weapon. It took another step, and she fired; a bolt of blue light shot from it, sizzling over the Weevil before it fell to the ground in a heap. She heard footsteps from behind, running towards her, and she opened her mouth to yell at the teens for returning when a shout cut her off.

"Rose! What the hell did you just do?!"

She whirled around, nearly dropping her gun at the sound of Jack Harkness's voice. Flanking him were Owen Harper and Gwen Cooper – no, _Harkness_ – but her eyes were focused on Jack. Wonderful, alive, slightly immortal, glorious Jack – who was now standing right next to her and gawking at the immobile Weevil. She rolled her eyes at that; just like a bloke to ignore the girl for the monster lying unconscious behind her. She nudged his arm and he looked at her, and it seemed to hit him that she was really there, giving him that raised-eyebrow look. He shook his head and laughed, scooping her up into his arms for a bone-crushing hug.

"Rose!" he laughed, and her laughter joined his as her arms wrapped their way around his shoulders. Gwen and Owen came to a stop behind them, but she still paid them no mind. "Christ, Rose, it really is you!"

"Hello, Jack," she said, laughing as he squeezed her. She gasped as her daughter gave an annoyed kick, and she tapped his back. "Oi, down – down!"

He set her down, giving her a concerned, confused look as she stepped back. She looked up at him and grinned, a hand coming to rest on her stomach. He glanced down, then glanced again, his jaw dropping as he took in the bump. He reached out, his hand stopping just over hers, a laugh starting to bubble out. She grinned, her tongue sticking between her teeth as she watched his face.

"You're…" he started, eyes still fixed on her pregnant belly, and she nodded. He looked up at her, the laugh coming out full-blast as he picked her up and twirled her 'round. She gave a shout, laughing as she told him to put her down again, which he reluctantly agreed to. When she was back on her own feet, he gave her a smirk. "You're yelling at me – just wait 'til Daddy finds out. My hugs are nothing compared to his."

"Got that right," she said, smirking, and he laughed. He reached out, this time fully placing his hand on her stomach, and she smiled. "I'm about five months gone now."

"How are you here?" Jack asked, looking at her, and she shrugged.

"Bit of fiddling with some old Void-hoppers and a bit of Rift manipulation, add in a dash of Time Lord baby genius and Bad Wolf, and here I am," she said, and she almost believed it really had been that simple. He looked incredulous, so she smiled. "What does it matter, Jack? I'm here – _we're_ here – and we're safe. The universes aren't about to collapse, and we're here. Does it really matter how?"

"Will to him," he said, and she rolled her eyes.

"Let me deal with him," she said. She looked nervous. "You…do have a way to reach him, don't you?"

"Called him on our way out," he said. "Tosh saw you on the CCTV after there was a spike in Rift energy, then when she saw the Weevil footage she…what the hell did you do to it, anyway? I don't remember you as the kind to shoot down anyone. The Doc said you were even a Dalek-hugger, once upon a time."

"I am _not_ a 'Dalek-hugger'," she sniffed, the very idea bitter in her mind. She looked back to the Weevil. "And I don't shoot down anyone, no."

"Then –" he started, but she raised her gun. He quirked a brow, and she grinned.

"Super hi-tech alien stun gun," she said, twirling it 'round her fingers. "Torchwood London specialty."

"Torchwood London?"

They turned to the confused, scared voice, looking at Gwen's paled face. She looked between them, her eyes finally landing on Jack.

"You said…Torchwood London? The Torchwood in London? That was Canary Wharf. You said it's closed," Gwen said, her voice accusing as her mind crossed the years back to a partially-converted Cyberwoman lurking in their basement, the tools of the conversion unit whirring above her restrained body. Jack's face softened as he shook his head.

"Different Canary Wharf, Gwen," he said, and Rose nodded.

"It was in a parallel world," she said. "One where the public found out what they were doing before it got bad and took over. My parallel dad runs it – I was working there up until a month or so ago."

"A month?" Jack asked, and she nodded.

"Then I realized it might be better to set up base at Torchwood Cardiff. Thought the Rift might be helpful," she said, and he grinned.

"The Doc's gonna have kittens when he hears all this," he said, and she laughed.

"Wouldn't be the first time," she said, and Jack's surprised question was cut off by Owen's rather annoyed voice.

"Right, sorry, but who are you again?" he asked, and Rose grinned at Jack. Recalling the Doctor's tale of his second visit to her world, Jack returned the look; parallel worlds made life funny sometimes.

"Rose Tyler," she said, looking back to Owen. "We almost dated once."

"The Doc said our Owen is worse," Jack said, loving the shocked look on Owen's face a bit too much. Rose shrugged.

"Don't know your Owen, do I?" she asked. "My Owen's not that bad, though. Bit of a prat, but Tosh settled him down good enough."

"Tosh?!" Owen asked, eyes widening, and she gave him a curious look.

"You two aren't married here?" she asked with a frown, and he winced.

"They dated a bit, long time ago, but it never really took off," Gwen said. She held out a hand to Rose. "Gwen Harkness."

"Oh, I know," Rose said, grinning. Gwen frowned, and Rose smiled. "The Doctor's shown me pictures from your wedding. Congratulations, by the way – never thought anyone would tie this one down."

Jack and Gwen shared a smile, and Owen frowned.

"You mean you don't have a Gwen?" he asked, and his frown deepened. "And how do you have a me, anyway? What're you…wait. Rose Tyler? The Doctor's girlfriend trapped in another universe?"

"Not so trapped now, am I?" Rose asked, smirking; she chose to ignore the fact that she'd already said she'd come in from another world and really, he should have realized that earlier. Owen's eyes widened.

"Another me almost dated the Doctor's girlfriend?" he asked, and then he winced again. "No wonder he doesn't like me…"

"That's not why he doesn't like you," Jack, Gwen, and Rose said unanimously. Owen glared at them, but his retort was cut off by a moan from the Weevil. Rose nudged it with her foot, and another moan came from it. She looked at Jack, who grinned.

"Better get him back to the Hub – the Doc's probably there by now, anyway," he said, and she nodded. Her hand slipped to her stomach again as Gwen and Jack detained the Weevil; she felt a tickling in her mind, her little girl's excitement bleeding through their link clear as day, and she smiled.

_That's right, sweetheart,_ she thought, _Daddy's almost here._

– W –

The whooshing sound that heralded the arrival of the TARDIS was practically commonplace in the Hub these days. With the Doctor's tendency to just pop up – and Jack's tendency to call in his help on their bigger cases – the Torchwood team had grown accustomed to the sound; as it was, when the grating _vrowmp-vrowmp-vrowmp_ filled the air no one really batted an eye. Most of the team had already gone home for the evening, anyway – the only ones there to consider the Doctor's arrival were Jack, Rose, and Gwen, and none of them were in the central hub upon his ship's materialization.

The space continued to be decidedly abandoned when the doors opened moments later and a tetchy Doctor stalked out, fists shoved so deep in his trouser pockets he slouched. He paused and gave a look around, his frown deepening as he noticed the lack of people inside the Hub. His bad mood worsening, he turned on his heel and prepared to head back to the TARDIS, thinking of all the really mean and nasty things he could leave on Jack's voicemail for this apparently unneeded call. 'Very urgent you arrive as quickly as possible' his arse.

He was about to reach for the handle when he heard it, the first signs of life from the offices. He turned slightly, ears pricking at the laughter floating towards him from…the autopsy room? He turned away from the TARDIS, uneasily making his way back towards the pit Owen usually worked from as he strained his ears to pick up just who was in the room and why they were laughing.

A gasping, giggling noise – too light to properly identify a voice, but definitely female and so familiar it caused the hair on the back of his neck to bristle in that eager, hopeful anticipation he attributed to…no. Impossible.

Jack, making full-blow guffaws and slapping something as he talked with Gwen, also laughing. He thought he heard something along the lines of "Stop squirming," and he knew that voice was Martha's. That nervous twitch in the back of his mind grew; usually, when Jack called him in and Martha was there it never meant anything good. But if that was the case, why were they laughing? And who was…

He reached the large arch marking the pit's entrance, and his hearts stopped.

"Honestly, you're worse than my three-year-old!" Martha laughed as none other than Rose Tyler squirmed away from her, laughing and slapping at her hands as the doctor tried to rub a clear gel on her…

Oh.

Oh, oh – oh, Rassilon, it couldn't…

He couldn't breathe, and his respiratory bypass system was refusing to be of any assistance.

"Never realized you were quite that ticklish, Rose," Jack said, grinning, and Rose threw her head back, biting her lip to keep from laughing. Tears filled her eyes as she shook, shaking her head from side to side and gripping the table.

"I-I'm not!" she gasped, giggling again. Martha stopped, crossing her arms over her chest and giving her a stern look.

"Rose Tyler, you said this baby hasn't had a proper checkup in five months because you didn't have an alien baby expert in that other universe," she said. Rose shot her a sheepish look.

"Well, it's more we couldn't really trust anyone, could we? Big public figure like Rose Tyler ends up pregnant with an alien baby, and go to the wrong doctor it would be all over the press – we'd both be in danger, and I wasn't putting her in that kind of trouble," Rose said. Jack grinned.

"Especially if she's inherited the jeopardy-friendly genes from her parents – she'll get in enough trouble all her own when she's old enough," he said, and Rose rolled her eyes.

"Point is, I think you were lying. I think you just couldn't sit still through an exam long enough," Martha said, grinning at her. Jack snorted, and Rose whipped her head around to shoot a reply at him when her eyes finally fell on the Time Lord gawking from just behind the Torchwood head. Her eyes widened as her entire face lit up, splitting with a grin bright enough to outshine entire universes. The look seemed to drag him back to life, and a breathy laugh escaped him. He shook his head, and any mood he had been in upon arriving vanished like so much morning smoke as he stumbled forward. Jack and Gwen turned, both smiling when they saw him, but Martha merely flicked her eyes in his direction before taking full advantage of the distraction to rub the rest of the cool gel on Rose's very exposed, very pregnant belly.

Well. Slightly pregnant. Half-pregnant. Little under, actually, since the baby was part Time Lord – had Martha said five months?

"About time you turned up, Doc," Jack said, and his eyes jerked towards him – only for a moment, though, as they still refused to leave the impossible sight before him. He stopped next to Jack, right by the stairs that led into the pit where Rose was propped up on the table usually reserved for autopsies. The thought should disturb him, he knew, but looking at that beautifully pregnant, beautifully _here_ stomach he just couldn't acknowledge it. And he knew he should probably say _something_, but for once in his very long life he was completely gobsmacked. And all at the sight of his Rose – his _pregnant_ Rose. Rassilon, she was bloody _pregnant! _"Any longer and Gwen and I were planning on taking Rose here home with us for the night."

"Caught me at a bad time," he said, his mind latching onto the one thing it could comprehend. He tore his eyes away from Rose, looking back to Jack. "I was half-buried in the console, trying to fix the dimensional stabilizers when Ianto phoned. Well, it was a few things – we were in a pretty tough scrap a day or so ago, and she took quite a beating. Had to finish that last repair before I could safely land her anywhere. But blimey, Jack, if he had said…"

"Thought he'd surprise you," Gwen said, grinning at him. She gave him a little wave. "Hello again, Doctor."

"Mrs. Harkness," the Doctor said, grinning at her. A gasp caused them all to look back to Rose, whose eyes were fixed on a monitor Martha had rudely constructed to show an ultrasound. Her mouth was hanging loose, her eyes wide as her hand reached out to press against the screen; blacks and grays flickered around, but there in the center was what was unmistakably a little baby. The Doctor's chest tightened at the sight; not just a little baby. _His_ little baby. _Rose's_ little baby. _Their_ little baby.

"Rose, meet your baby," Martha said, smiling at her. Rose glanced at her stomach, her hand pressing against the monitor. "He's turned funny, so I can't tell what the gender is, but –"

"Girl," Rose, the Doctor, and Jack said, cutting her off. She gave them all a skeptical look, and Rose looked back to the Doctor, grinning.

"I know you're probably still cross about that near-death experience, but no punishments until she's actually offended the royals, yeah?" she asked, and he laughed. He laughed long and hard, unable to control the giddy mirth bubbling in him. He hopped down the steps and ran over to her, gently wrapping his arms around her shoulders to give her the best hug he could, given her position. He felt her tears against his cheek, and that part of him that he was convinced was becoming too human and sappy felt he could cry with her.

"Rose," he choked, squeezing her gently. "Rassilon…how'd you do it, you beautiful, brilliant girl?"

"You were there," she teased, and he pulled back to give her a confused look – only to find she was looking back at the screen. His gaze followed her own, settling on their squirming baby girl. Even if she would land a past version of himself in a rather uncomfortable, unhygienic jail cell, he had a feeling she would be every bit worth it.

"That's our daughter?" he asked, and Rose nodded. He looked at Martha, who also nodded.

"That's your daughter, Doctor," she said. She moved the probe a little to the left, and Rose gasped at the sliding sensation. Martha gave her a look, and she grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry," she said. Martha paused the screen and pulled the probe away, pulling out a damp cloth to wipe it off. She handed another one to the Doctor, who gave her a confused look.

"Make yourself useful," she said. When he continued to frown, she rolled her eyes. "You've left this poor woman alone for the first half of her pregnancy. Way I see things, you owe her some serious pampering."

"I like the sound of that," Rose said, and he looked back to her to see her tongue caught between her teeth in that all too familiar grin. He shook his head, chuckling as he began to wipe the gel off her belly.

"Oh, believe me – you'll be pampered," he said, still shaking his head in disbelief. "I can't believe you're here. _You're here._ Rose…how did you…and you're…and…_blimey!_"

"I think you've got him gobsmacked, Rose," Gwen said, and Rose laughed.

"Not often that happens," she said. She reached up, laying her palm against his cheek. He leaned his head into her hand, looking up from his task to catch her eye. Her smile warmed. "S'like I told Jack, Doctor: it doesn't matter how I got back. We can go into all that later, if you really want, but all that matters is the multiverse isn't collapsing and I'm here – _we're_ here – and you've got us back. How's that for impossible, Mr. I-May-Never-Get-Through?"

"You're an impossible thing, Rose," he said, and Jack laughed.

"I thought I was special, Doc!" he said, and the Doctor gave him an amused look. Jack looked back to Rose. "Any idea what you're calling her yet?"

"We'll figure that out later," she said, looking back to the Doctor. He left the cloth on her belly and pulled her towards him, hugging her tight. She gasped after a moment when their daughter jumped, and she laughed as he pulled back and looked her over in concern. "She senses you. Happy you're here, is all."

"That makes two of us," he said, and before she could comment any further he brought her face to his own and kissed her. He jumped back when Martha thwacked him, pointing to Rose's stomach.

"Oi! No snogging until you've cleaned her up!" she said, and it seemed everyone in the room was laughing at him.

"Motherhood has made you mean, Martha Jones," he sniffed, and she thwacked him again.

"Martha _Milligan_, thank you very much," she said. She grinned at him. "And it's not the motherhood making me mean – it's Girls' Night Out with Donna. And you better swing by and see her, you know – she'll want to meet Rose, what with all your going on about her, and you have to see Ella."

"Ella?" the Doctor and Rose asked, and Martha grinned.

"Mr. Save the Universe here hasn't been by to see Donna in quite a while. Lee got her pregnant again – a little girl this time. She's just a few months old, but she's so precious," Martha said, grinning. The Doctor laughed, shaking his head.

"Blimey, if the old me could see me now," he said, and Jack grinned.

"You've officially gone domestic, Doc," he said. "Family and babies and everything. Next you know Rose'll be joining them on Girls' Night Out and you'll be holding a steady nine to five with us here."

"Never!" the Doctor cried, eyes widening. He slid the cloth across her stomach, cleaning up the last bit of the gel. Martha handed him a dry cloth and he set about rubbing that against her. "Though…might not be all bad. Long as I don't have to get a mortgage, that is. I can't stand mortgages."

"I don't mind the idea of Girls' Night Out, but a steady job would kill him," Rose said, grinning at Jack.

"Being in one place longer than necessary would kill him," he said. The Doctor opened his mouth to protest, but Jack held up a hand. "I know – you've stayed in the same place for an entire year before, but you were forced into that. You get itchy feet, and longer than you have to stay is hard for you."

"Not that I mind," Rose said, taking his hand.

"Martha, are you about done?" Gwen asked, and Martha nodded as she snapped her case shut. Gwen nudged Jack, and he nodded. The Doctor gave them all a curious sort of look. "I think we're all in need of a good cuppa, don't you? Doctor, watch over her, yeah?"

"Of course," he said, nodding, and with shared smiles the three left the pit. He looked back to Rose, who was trying to hide a laugh behind her hand. He grinned and pulled her close, burying his head in the crook of her neck. "Welcome home."

"I'm not home yet," she said, and he grinned despite himself at the meaningful tone in her voice. He gave her a squeeze, and she held him tighter. "Can we? Please?"

"Jack would kill me," he said. "Though…five months without a checkup, Martha said? I would like to take a proper look at her…"

"Please? We don't have to leave yet, and Jack'll understand. Please, Doctor?" she asked, and he laughed as he pulled back. He placed his palm against her cheek, eyes twinkling at her.

"Rose Tyler, if I didn't know any better I'd say you missed the TARDIS more than you missed me," he said, and the grin she gave him was nothing but cheeky.

"Well, I've been able to see you once a year for a while now – I haven't seen her since…please, Doctor? I want to know I'm home. I _need_ to know I'm home," she said, and his hearts swelled further at her words. He squeezed her again and nodded. "Go tell Jack. I'll be right behind you."

He was reluctant to leave her side, but he nodded all the same and headed back up the steps. He heard her moving around behind him, and he turned back just slightly to see her adjusting her clothes and grabbing her pack. She turned and gave him a look, half amused and half annoyed fondness, when she saw him still standing at the top of the stairs. She jogged over to him, and when her hand was safely back in his he continued on his way.

"Trying to sneak out?" Jack asked, walking over to them. They stopped, sharing a guilty look as if they were teenagers caught sneaking out of the house at midnight. He gave them a fond look. "Martha wanted me to apologize. Tom just called – Zach's sick, and Martha had to pick up some medicine for him before heading home."

"We'll see her again before we're off," the Doctor said, squeezing her hand. "Besides, like she said: we need to stop by Donna's, too."

"We weren't sneaking out," Rose said, and Jack quirked a brow at her. "We weren't, Jack! I just…I need to see the TARDIS. And he wants to give a proper poke at the baby."

"Lovely consonance," the Doctor said, and she grinned at him.

"Thank you," she said, and Jack chuckled before slapping the Doctor on the back.

"All right, all right – but I want that TARDIS right where you left it when I get back in the morning," he said, and Rose and the Doctor gave him mock-salutes. He pulled Rose towards him for one last hug, and she smiled against his neck as he squeezed her. "Good to have you back, Rose."

"Good to be back," she said, and he let her go. He gave a finale salute to the Doctor before heading back towards the vault door, where Gwen was waiting. She waved at them before Jack took her hand and led her out of the Hub. Rose looked to the Doctor and grinned. "Home?"

"Home," he said, and with a tug on her hand he led her back to the TARDIS.

– W –

They were barely inside before the Doctor pressed her against the door, kissing her fiercely. There was a desperation in the gesture, an overwhelming joy clashing with sheer disbelief and too much longing that fought to prove to his recovering mind that it really was Rose Tyler against him and yes, she really was pregnant. His free hand slipped down from her waist, sliding to rest against her bump; he felt their daughter moving beneath his hand, and he smiled against her mouth. He released her lips and buried his face against her shoulder, laughing as he wrapped his arms around her.

"I can't believe you're here," he whispered, eyes closing as he let out a sigh. "I _know_ you are – I can see you, feel you…but I just can't believe it. You figured out what I couldn't, Rose. You always seem to be doing that."

"I'm just cleverer than you," she said saucily, and he laughed as he let it go. Oh, they both knew she wasn't – not really – but he'd let her have this one. Besides, there were times he thought exactly the same thing, though he wouldn't let her know it. "So are you gonna have your way with me here or are you gonna get me to the med bay and look at this baby?"

"Don't tempt me, Rose Tyler," he growled, kissing her again. He pulled away before he could lose himself in her, leaning his forehead against her own as he breathed. "It's not just the baby I want to look at. You've just crossed the Void, and I didn't see a Void ship anywhere. Best make sure you're all right, too."

"I'm fine," she said, and at the look he gave her she sighed. "I am!"

"Just let me make sure," he said, kissing her temple. She sighed and nodded, letting him lead her towards the med bay. Half an hour and half a dozen tests later, she was lying on an exam table while he looked over the bridge of his specs at some test results on a nearby monitor. She let her head fall back against the pillow he'd provided, groaning as she stared at the ceiling. She heard an amused hum in her mind, and she reached out to run her hand along the wall. She couldn't begin to describe how good it felt to feel that little niggle that signified the TARDIS in the back of her mind again, to hear her hum around her…it had been too long.

"Glad you're enjoying this," she said, and the Doctor gave her a curious look before she nodded towards the wall.

"She just wants to make sure you're all right, too," he said, smiling as he walked over to her. She sat up and threw her legs over the edge, grabbing his hand as he stopped before her. "And you're both fine. Brilliant, actually – which I'm very surprised at, since you crossed the Void without a capsule."

"Crossed it a few times without a capsule," she said, and his eyebrows soared into his hairline. "We were having trouble with the Void hopper at first. I kept landing in the past, though I have a feeling it was usually somewhere around you. I…I saw you, once, but it was an old you. From when Donna was traveling with you. Then I saw 'Bad Wolf' written on a wall near the TARDIS and heard some bloke talking about Cardiff, and I realized I could use the Rift to manipulate the device."

"You used Bad Wolf and the Rift to open a door between the universes," he said, eyes widening. He laughed and scooped her up in his arms, hugging her tight. "Rose Tyler, you are brilliant!"

"So you've said," she laughed. She smiled as he pulled back, still grinning at her. "I made it across safely, and I can definitely tell you there are no fractures around the door. And…"

"What?" he asked, again bringing up his hand to rest his palm against her face. She smiled weakly.

"I have to test it later, but I tried for just that: a door," she said. She frowned. "More like a window, really. So we could maybe get messages through, or at least a message. Let Mum and them know I made it here safe."

"We'll worry about that later," he said, nodding. "Quite frankly, I don't really want to share you with Jackie right now."

"She'd still be in the other universe, Doctor," she said, laughing. He grinned and kissed her, short and sweet.

"No, but already talking about her and I want to hide my face," he said, and she laughed as she fell against him, shaking with mirth in his arms. "So, Rose…I was thinking…"

"Yeah?" she asked, closing her eyes as she relaxed against his chest.

"Well, Jack's right: our little girl here's going to need a name," he said. She frowned, and he continued. "And I don't much think you'd like to give her a Gallifreyan name, and why should she? She is part human, after all. So I was thinking…how about Hope? Seems appropriate, all things considered."

She looked up at him, smiling slightly. His nervous look melted into a smile of his own, and she wanted to kiss him again – so she did.

"Yeah?" she asked, and he nodded.

"Yes," he said, and she smiled.

"I think I like that," she said, and kissed him again. Neither thought they'd ever tire of that part. "I think I like that a lot."

"Then, Rose Tyler, Hope Tyler," he said, disentangling an arm to press his palm against her belly, "welcome home."


End file.
